Launch of the 100+ Women’s Grassroots Activism Toolkit
Celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2026 with the launch of the 100+ Women’s Grassroots Activism Toolkit! 10 March 2026 (online via Zoom), 5.30 pm to 7 pm. Register for the free event on this page.
Over the past few years, the NFWI has been participating as a stakeholder in the following project: "Agency and Advocacy: Locating Women's Grassroots Activism in England and Ireland, 1918 to the present".
Women’s Grassroots Activism Project
Women’s Grassroots Activism in England and Ireland, 1918 to the present, ran from August 2023 to January 2025. The project set out to identify how grassroots women’s organisations, working to enhance the lives of women and girls since the early 1900s, can co-identify strategies to safeguard their future activities and activism for the next 100+ years. Funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) the network worked hand-in-hand with our participant women’s organisations: the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA); the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI); the Federation of Women’s Institutes of Northern Ireland (WINI); the Soroptimists Tunbridge Wells and District Club; Soroptimists South East Region; Soroptimists Republic of Ireland and Soroptimists Northern Ireland, all affiliated to the Soroptimists International Great Britian and Ireland (SIGBI). Together, these groups represent over 200,000 women, enabling members to come together for friendship, education, crafting and activism.
What does activism look like in women’s grassroots organisations? Are you an activist?
Women’s activism has been ongoing across the British Isles throughout the twentieth century; it didn’t end with the women’s suffrage movement and winning the parliamentary vote. As the Women’s Grassroots Activism project has demonstrated, activism comes in many shapes and forms. There are many examples of how women have and continue to effect change through everyday practices. This can be through personal behaviour change, for instance, deciding to buy Fairtrade products or recycling waste. It can also be through educating yourself about a cause, such as attending a meeting on environmental concerns, to better understand the issues. It can be taking part in local, national and global events, for example, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. All the organisations participating in our project are involved in practical local action to help make their lives and the lives of their local communities better. Finally, the most well-recognised form of activism is campaigning. This includes drawing up petitions, undertaking research and surveys to provide information and then taking this evidence to the local council or MP/TD to persuade them to act. The histories of our four participating women’s organisations vividly demonstrate how activism, even small everyday acts, can make change happen. More than that, it can make a difference to those engaging in activism, giving a sense of achievement, recognition and most importantly camaraderie, solidarity and sociability. What we learnt from this project is that there are many forms of activism: loud, dramatic, quiet, gentle, kind, self-help, creative, craftivism, advocacy, everyday, local, national, global. Women’s grassroots activism is characterised by all these forms of activism, and many more. You can hear these stories of activism yourself by listening to our Women’s Grassroots Activism Podcast Series - History Hub
What do women campaign about?
Women’s organisations have a long history of campaigning for improvements to women’s lives. Our participating women’s organisations have played a key role in making the lives of women and girls better across the twentieth century and continue with this work today. For example the NFWI passed a resolution calling for equal pay for women in 1943, the ICA opened the first residential adult education college in Ireland in 1954, WINI has campaigned to improve the lives of rural women in Northern Ireland since the 1930s, and since 2008 SIGBI has led the way with its Orange the World campaign, part of the United Nation’s 16 Days of Activism initiative. Over the past 100 years, our four organisations have contributed in so many ways to making the lives of women and girls better, and in doing so, they make the lives of everyone better. Throughout the years, these campaigns have incorporated many issues that matter to women and their families. High-quality housing, access to adequate healthcare, equal pay and opportunities for women, environmental protection, loneliness, ensuring women benefit equally from social welfare and pension payments, have all been tackled by members of women’s grassroots organisations. Campaigns can be promoted locally and nationally and taken directly to elected officials, in national and devolved government across the UK and Ireland or through their consultative status at the United Nations.
Activism 100+ Toolkit
Launching our Toolkit will let us share the experiences, expertise, tips and ideas generated by members of the ICA, NFWI, WINI and SIGBI about how best to advocate around enhancing the lives of women and girls locally, nationally and globally.
Join us on 10 March 2026 at 5.30 pm to find out more and to get the link to our new Toolkit. We would love to see you there so we can celebrate IWD 2026 together.
